


The Miracle in Room 562

by Eternallydeancas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cancer, Complete AU, Destiel - Freeform, Kid!Fic, M/M, Professor!Cas, daddy!destiel, domestic!Cas, marriage fic, original!kidverse, remission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 09:58:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1894788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternallydeancas/pseuds/Eternallydeancas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel receives some incredible news after an exhausting day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Miracle in Room 562

**Author's Note:**

> This little work of mine slammed into my head and the words just kept flowing through my fingertips...I hope you like what you read!

            Castiel is tired. At seven thirty-nine on a Friday evening, he's standing in line behind a woman who refuses to pay for her hundreds of groceries with anything but exact change. His son, Xavier, is hanging onto his leg and banging the side of the cart with his little fist while his daughter, sweet, sweet, Marie, threatens to throw a full scale tantrum in the small seat in front of him. He tosses the rest of their order up onto the belt and glances up at the smiling cashier. This particular look apologizes for his family's distracting presence and for not separating the cold items from the non-cold ones like Dean normally would.

           Dean. Warm eyes and bowed legs, carved to perfection, culminating in a considerate being who cares about the organization of their groceries. After all they'd been through, he's got a mischievous grin to excuse away his sometimes high maintenance tendencies. And while his strength isn't what it used to be, Castiel is confident it'll return soon enough. It has to. They've gotten this far, and they'll keep pushing until they no longer have to.

            "Your total is $176.94," the young girl reads the total from the computer screen to him and Castiel almost replies that he has eyes and, therefore, can read the screen himself. Almost, but then he remembers. Not everyone is as stressed as he. Not everyone has a husband in the hospital.

            So, he dutifully swipes his debit card and makes a mental note to write the grocery bill on his hand. As much as he hates to admit it, it's necessary - unless he wants to forget it later when he balances their account after getting home. Did he forget to deposit that check from his brother?

             "Here's your receipt, thank you and have a great night!" The cashier hands him the receipt and slides the separator bar out of the way for the next order.  Shaking his head, he picks up Xavier, swings him gently into the seat beside Marie, and heads for the car.  He expects tonight to be like every other night in the recent past.

 

\------

 

 

            At the hospital, Marie kicks at Castiel's side - she “ _wants to_ _walk_ _dada_ " - and Xavier races ahead in the parking lot so quickly that Castiel feels his heart drop to his toe nails. Thankfully, the lot is fairly empty for a Friday night -all vehicles parked- and Xavier is spared from any of the horrible scenarios whizzing through his dad's head.

             "Evening Castiel," one of the night EMTs greets him on his way out the door. Castiel smiles wanly and continues to the elevator where Xavier is busy pushing both the 'up' and 'down' buttons.

             "Daddy's on the fifth floor, baby," Castiel reminds him as they step into the parting metal doors. "Can you show me number five?"  Thank you Sesame Street and the Count for teaching his four year old when he hasn't the time. Or energy. Maybe he'll write the company a letter. _Dear creators of Sesame Street, thank you for all of the educational distraction you have provided my children with, in the last two years…_

            Xavier looks between him and the wall of buttons above his head. After pressing "four" and getting a head shake in response, he presses the "five" button and backs against the wall.  Marie fusses when the doors open and they don't get off yet, but a second later, they're on Dean's floor, and all is good.

            As they pass the nurse's station, Louise, one of their favorites, waves a good night, purse tucked under her arm.  The three of them wave back and continue down the long hallway.

 "Stay with Daddy, Xavier," Castiel takes the boy's hand in his own and shifts Marie to his right hip. Room 562. Dean's room.

             Inside, the lamp beside the window is on, the bed made neatly, void of any creases.  The adjoining bathroom door is cracked slightly, orange light filters through, so Castiel sets Marie back against the pillows and instructs Xavier to sit in the chair by the IV stand.

            "Dean?" He knocks on the door and hopes if his husband is throwing up, it's not loud enough to scare the kids.  "Babe, you okay?"  Castiel barely hears the answering "yeah" before plowing on with his train of thought.

"I'm sorry we're so late, baby. I couldn't leave campus until after six, and then when I got to Sam's, Jess wouldn't let me leave without seeing Bryce run without help, and _then_ I had to get groceries because we're out of everything."

             Dean opens the door and Castiel immediately stops talking. Tears track down both sides of his husband's face and he _knows_ something worse has happened.

          "What's wrong? What is it? Do you need a nurse? Ellie just took over for Louise. I'll go get her," Castiel hooks a thumb over his shoulder and starts to turn when a pair of calloused hands grab his face.

          "I'm clean," Dean says, looking into his eyes. All of the air leaves his lungs and suddenly his mouth feels like cotton. Not a completely different reaction to what he felt at the beginning of this whole thing, eighteen months ago.

       "No fucking way."  He clamps a hand over his mouth and blinks furiously as tears spring to his eyes. He'd been trying to limit the bad language as best as he could and even news like this wasn't worth having one of his kids repeat a certain choice word. Dean laughs and chokes a little, keeping a hand on the doorframe to steady himself.

      "Yes way. Remember the tests we took on Tuesday? Results came back. I am 100% cancer free. Remission has a new look and it's Dean Winchester, baby."

        "Dean Winchester, you better not be lying right now because after today, I don't think I can take it," Cas takes a few deep breaths to steady himself and settles his hands on either side of Dean's face.

     "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not," comes the whispered reply. Finally, Castiel lets the tears spill over.  Despite his quivering lip, and the full awareness of his ugly, crying face, he kisses Dean for the first time in what seems an eternity. Really, it's been about a week, but time has long since ceased progressing as it should.

    "Can you come home tonight?" The question falls out of his mouth as soon as he pulls his lips away and he wishes it hadn't. This, this news? It's already more than enough. To get his hopes up for more, he's learned, is simple masochism.

            "Doc signed the release papers at three today. I wanted to go home and surprise you but Sam said I shouldn't leave with anyone but you.   Kid's got a good point every once in a while, Cas."

        Christmas. Birthdays. Easter. New Year's. All of the special days they celebrate and observe couldn't hold a candle to this moment. This day. It's the best moment of his lifetime, second only to the birth of their children. Not only are they in the clear, they can finally start toward recovery.

     “Well,” Castiel slips an arm around his husband’s waist and adjusts the diaper bag on his shoulder before turning to their kids.  “Let’s go home then.”

     Xavier shrugs out of the blue plastic chair and hugs Dean’s leg as he had Castiel’s in the checkout line.  And once he’s gathered Marie and Dean’s packed bag, which he saw was waiting at the foot of the bed, Castiel leads his family out of Room 562 for the final time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! I'm not sure where the cancer idea came from, as this was literally the result of two fifteen minute breaks at work tonight, but hey. It happened. 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are encouraged :) I'd love to hear how I'm doing...


End file.
